Anti-intellectualism flatters the ego by lowering the bar. It preaches that ignorance is purity and intellect is arrogance—but that’s just cowardice with good PR. We’ve been herded into a comfortable disdain for complexity, told that questioning is elitism, and that clarity is snobbery.

It’s trendy to sneer at ‘book smarts’ and glamorize gut feelings. But the gut’s only good if it’s fed well. Starve the mind, and all you’ve got is instinct—raw, twitchy, and easily fooled. Too many of us have mistaken humility for hostility. Anti-intellectualism tells people they’re noble for distrusting thought, and courageous for mocking complexity. But rejecting intellect doesn’t empower—it infantilizes. It’s easier to be herded than to lead, sure, but don’t call that freedom.

Crowns aren’t handed out for compliance. If we want to truly rule ourselves, we need to stop fearing thought. Stop mocking depth. Reclaim the right to wrestle with ideas, even when they’re inconvenient. Real thinking costs something. It threatens our certainties. But truth doesn’t coddle; it carves out new grooves for us to follow and explore.

We can’t keep pretending it’s rebellious to mock scholarship. Herded like sheep through curated comfort zones, we’re losing the instinct to question. Let’s stop romanticizing ignorance and start reclaiming our crowns—not for ego, but for evolution. Enough of this self-loathing masquerading as authenticity. Kings and queens don’t fear the library. We build our thrones from it.